The UK’s Department for International Development is consulting on its research strategy. It follows the Department’s 2006 White Paper. The consultation asks how DfID can:

• build on their four research themes (agriculture, “killer diseases”, governance and climate change)
• improve the way it identifies demand for research from end-users
• promote cross-cutting research that will benefit poor people
• help developing countries to conduct and use research
• make it more likely that research will be used

There is an on-line questionnaire to that will be open until 23 September. The BES is planning to respond to the consultation.

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown MP, has selected the following Ministers to lead government departments relevant to the BES:

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

• Secretary of State: Hilary Benn MP
• Minister of State: Lord Rooker (farming, animal welfare)
• Minister of State: Phil Woolas MP (climate change, energy, sustainable development)
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: Joan Ruddock MP (climate change, biodiversity)
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: Jonathan Shaw MP (marine, local environmental quality)

Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills*

• Secretary of State: John Denham MP
• Minister of State: Bill Rammell MP (Higher Education)
• Minister of State: Ian Pearson MP (Science and Innovation)
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: David Lammy MP (Skills)
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State: Lord Triesman (IP)

* New Department

Scottish Executive
Rural Affairs and the Environment

• Cabinet Secretary: Richard Lochhead MSP
• Minister for Environment: Michael Russell MSP

Education & Lifelong Learning

• Minister for Schools and Skills: Maureen Watt MSP
• Cabinet Secretary: Fiona Hyslop MSP

Welsh Assembly Government

First Minister (including science): Rhodri Morgan AM
Sustainability and Rural Development: Jane Davidson AM
Education, Culture and the Welsh Language: Carwyn Jones AM

Tuesday 19 June
The Joint committee on the draft Climate Change Bill took oral evidence from the GLA, CLA, and National Consumer Council among other representatives.

Written questions were asked on the effect of agricultural nitrates on algal blooms, the protection of dolphins and porpoises, and biodiversity objectives.

There was a House of Lords debate on tackling climate change with carbon offsetting.

Wednesday 20 June
David Miliband gave a written statement on this month’s agriculture and fisheries council in Luxembourg.

Baroness Byford asked a written question on the targets for the issue of Food and Environmental Protection Act licences.

Thursday 21 June
David Miliband answered oral questions on the effectiveness of climate change agreements made at recent G8 summit.

During a discussion of the Energy White Paper, Robert Key MP asked the Ian Pearson, Minister of State, Defra) about the Defra’s assessment of the biodiversity impact of the proposed Severn barrage. The Minister stated that the Sustainable Development Commission is due to produce a report on the environmental impact of the Severn barrage, in September and highlighted the potential benefits of the project.

The UK Government has published a new Strategy for England’s Trees, Woods and Forests. The strategy identifies the contribution that trees, woods and forests make to environmental and social objectives and shows how their sustainable management can support adaptation to climate change and reduce carbon emissions. The strategy proposes to enhance the quality and area of forestry. This will also help to meet the England Biodiversity Strategy target to improve the condition of woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and the Biodiversity Action Plan target to create 2,200 hectares of wet woodland in England by 2010. The Forestry Commission will lead in developing a joint Delivery Plan with Natural England, and will be engaging with stakeholders over the next year.

Professor Callum Roberts, University of York, has circulated a statement to bring together the European community of marine scientists together in affirming the need for marine reserves and express and concern over the lack of progress in implementing marine reserve networks in European waters. The statement says that Fully Protected Marine Reserves are essential for conservation, are necessary for the implementation of effective management of the sea, and have important benefits to scientific understanding of this environment. As of 7 June, 275 scientists had signed up to the statement. European scientists can sign the statement by e-mailing their name, affiliation, degree qualification and country.

The Scottish Executive’s Rural Affairs and Environment Cabinet Secretary, Richard Lochhead, has announced that he intends to introduce a new Scottish Marine Bill that would enable:

• A simpler regulatory system for the marine environment
• More action on marine nature conservation
• A strategic national approach
• Greater local control over marine and coastal areas

The Cabinet Secretary is currently reviewing the reports by:

• Advisory Group on Marine and Coastal Strategy
• Scottish Parliament Environment and Rural Development Committee Report on the Marine Environment

A team of Danish scientists published a ten year report on the phenological responses to climate change in the high arctic: Rapid Advancement of Spring in the High Arctic ($). One of the clearest and most rapid signals of biological response to rising temperatures across has been shifts in species phenology, yet to date assessment has not been made of these changes in the high arctic. This new report documents extremely rapid climate-induced advancement of flowering, emergence and egg-laying in a wide array of species in a high arctic ecosystem. The strong responses and the large variability within species and taxa illustrate how easily biological interactions may be disrupted, and how dramatic responses to climatic changes can be for arctic ecosystems.

The BES is involved in a horizon scanning exercise to assess novel threats and opportunities to biodiversity conservation in 2050. For example:

• Climate change causes the loss of arctic alpine communities
• Major policy push for tidal power impacts on coastal and estuarine systems
• Nanotechnology debris causes an increase in land pollution into waterways
• Decline in engagement with nature reduces peoples’ interest in biodiversity

Please use the comment function to add your suggestion for a novel issue (i.e. not a continuation of a new one) and how it might affect biodiversity conservation (positevely or negatively).

The Independent Science Group has published its final report to Defra on options for controlling TB in cattle. The ISG found that: “while badgers are clearly a source of cattle TB, careful evaluation of our own and others’ data indicates that badger culling can make no meaningful contribution to cattle TB control in Britain. Indeed, some policies under consideration are likely to make matters worse rather than better.” David Miliband has made an initial statement on the ISG’s findings.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee is holding oral evidence sessions on the ISG’s report.

BES Journals have recently published the following papers related to badger culling and bovine TB.

• J. Vicente, et al. (2007) Social organization and movement influence the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in an undisturbed high-density badger Meles meles population. Journal of Animal Ecology.
• R. Woodroffe, et al. (2006) Effects of culling on badger (Meles meles) spatial organisation: implications for the control of bovine TB. Journal of Applied Ecology.